Melbourne playmaker Gareth Widdop has agreed a shock move to St George Illawarra just two days after Penrith snared Dragons five-eighth Jamie Soward.

On Friday the Dragons announced 2012 premiership five-eighth Widdop, 24, had agreed to a four-year deal beginning next year and worth a reported $2.2 million.

“Widdop … agreed to terms after consultation with his family and a visit to the Dragons region,” a Dragons statement read.

The signing is a coup for the Dragons, whose attack has been lacklustre over the first six weeks of the NRL season.

It comes after the Panthers announced they’d agreed a four-year deal securing former NSW playmaker Soward from St George Illawarra from next season.

England-born Widdop’s move came as a surprise to the Storm who were confident of retaining his services only last week.

“We’re quietly confident, but we’re under no illusions that other clubs would be interested in Gareth,” Storm general manager of football Frank Ponissi said last week.

“Things are progressing well with Gareth and his manager, and after this week we will probably have to go a little bit further.

You never say never, but hopefully we can tick the boxes and make a strong enough case for Gareth to stay.”

The Dragons have also been strongly linked with troubled ex-Canberra fullback Josh Dugan and Cronulla pivot Todd Carney.